Minnow-bucket.



C. SONKE.

MINNOW BUCKET.-

APPLICATION I'ILED JAN. 22, 1910.

965,662. Patented July 26, 1910.

C/Hri's nan S4 nke 1045 mmms PETER: 0a., WASHINGTON, v. C.

awuewbop CHRISTIAN SONKE, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

MINNOW-BUGKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 22, 1910.

Patented July 26, 1910.

Serial No. 539,600.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN SoNKn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Minnow- Buckets, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in minnow buckets, and its objectsare; first, to provide a minnow bucket with which minnows may be takenout without placing the hand in the water and still the minnows may bekept in the bucket without danger of their swimming forcibly against thescreened sides of the bucket, and thus greatly extend the length of timethey may be kept alive in the bucket; second, to provide a means wherebythe minnows may be taken out of the bucket without placing the hands inthe water though the water is retained in the bucket, and, third, toprovide a closed sheet metal pail that will float and yet, with which,the fish or minnows may be taken out without placing the hands in thewater. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which Figure l is a sectional elevation of anordinary closed minnow bucket with my attachment in place, and Fig. 2 isa perspective of my attachment removed from the bucket.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In speaking of a closed minnow pail or bucket I have reference to abucket made of bottom and sides, or a bucket with which water may becarried from place to place to keep the minnows alive as long as poss1-ble, while an open pail is one in which the sides and bottom are made ofwire screening, designed to be left in the water while the minnows arebeing held for bait, but with which all water will pass out of thebucket as fast as it is withdrawn from being surrounded and filled withwater.

My device is designed for use with a closed bucket only, and for itssuccessful operation the bucket A must be made with absolutely parallelwalls so that the device will fit alike when being moved up or down inthe bucket.

My means of providing for removing minnows from a closed pail, whenproperly filled with water to keep the minnows alive, consists of afalse bottom, as shown at D which is made of wire screening or ofpunctured sheet metal, or any other material that will allow the waterto remain normal in the bucket as the screen bottom is being raised upout of the water. This false bottom has an upwardly projecting rodattached to opposite edges and designed to be passed up through or bythe cover B of the bucket, as shown at D, and a bail E is, or may be,properly attached to the upper ends of these rods so that the rods andthe false bottom may be readily drawn upward out of the water, asindicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. The false bottom D is placed inthe bucket before the minnows are placed in it, so that the minnows mustremain above the said bottom, so that when the bottom is raised abovethe water the minnows will be raised out of the water with it, asindicated by the dotted outlines f in Fig. 1, where they may be readilyreached through the opening I) in the cover B, without having the handcome in contact with the water at all, after which the fish may be againimmersed without difficulty.

To avert the danger of raising the false bottom D far enough up toendanger pressing the minnows between it and the cover B I place two ormore ears, as d, on the bottom D in position to strike against the loweredge of the rim a of the cover B.

C represents a screen cover for the opening f in the cover B, in commonuse upon minnow buckets for averting the danger of minnows flopping outof the bucket, but, at the same time, furnishing sufiicient air toprevent the minnows from being smothered in the bucket, and 72represents an air chamber in the cover B, also in common use on minnowpails to make them float, though filled with water, though the cover maybe made without this feature without departing, in any sense, from thespirit and intent of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is:

In minnow bucket construction, a water retaining receptacle and itscover, in combination with a flat false bottom made of fine meshedscreening, an ear projecting upward from each opposite edge of thisfalse bottom, standards secured to the bottom adjacent to said ears andprojecting upward more than the depth of the receptacle, the

cover of the receptacle having a downthe cover that may be readilyopened and 10 closed.

Signed at Grand Rapids, Michigan, J anuary 18, 1910.

CHRI STIAN SONKE.

In presence of- ALLGIER, I. J. CILLEY.

